Press Releases

College Baseball

ESPN’s College Baseball Slate Covers the Bases

More than 900 Games Throughout the Season on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, ESPN3 and SEC Network +

1 Florida Aired in More than 40 Contests; All Top 10 Teams Featured Multiple Times; Overall, 23 of 25 Ranked Teams

Industry-Leading Regular Season Leads into Complete Division I NCAA Baseball Championship Coverage – Every Game from Regionals, Super Regionals and College World Series

Former All-Americans, College World Series Veterans Among Analysts

ESPN’s industry-leading Division I College Baseball coverage will include more than 900 games throughout the 2016 season across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, ESPN3 and SEC Network +. The regular season will feature all top 10 ranked teams in multiple games, including No. 1 Florida more than 40 times, and 23 of the 25 ranked teams overall. The record-setting schedule includes the American, ACC, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League, Missouri Valley, SEC, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt and SWAC Championship games and leads into the Division I NCAA Baseball Championship where ESPN will, once again, carry every game of all three rounds – Regionals, Super Regionals, and College World Series.

ESPNU/ESPN2ESPNU, combined with ESPN2, will feature a schedule peppered with highly ranked teams, including the top six teams – Florida, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, LSU and Miami – combining for 22 appearances on the networks. The schedule features nine of the top 10 teams and, overall, 20 of the 25 ranked teams in the USA Today poll. Additional ESPNU/ESPN2 Highlights:

ACC Mondays: ESPNU will feature a battle among ACC schools most Mondays throughout the season, beginning when Virginia Tech travels to No. 2 Louisville (April 4).

SEC Thursdays: The SEC will be featured on Thursdays, beginning when No. 23 South Carolina travels to No. 3 Vanderbilt (March 31)

Ranked vs. Ranked: In total, 15 matchups of ranked teams vs ranked team will be on the networks including:

4 Texas A&M at No. 1 Florida (April 2-3)

3 Vanderbilt at No. 5 LSU (April 8)

3 Vanderbilt at No. 4 Texas A&M (May 5)

9 UCLA at No. 16 Cal State Fullerton (April 26)

15 Oregon at No. 8 Oregon State (May 13-14)

Wildcard: ESPNU and the SEC Network will have designated May 19 as a “wildcard day”, where the two networks will select the most compelling SEC game to be aired that night. SEC Network will have additional “wildcard days” on April 29, May 6 and May 13 as well.

Championship Games: American, ACC, Big South, SEC and SWAC Championship games will all air on ESPN, ESPNU or ESPNEWS

Home of the Post Season: ESPN will cover up to 153 postseason games beginning with the Regionals. Complete details will be announced at a later date.

The complete ESPN2/ESPNU television schedule is provided below

SEC Network/SEC Network +

Television coverage ramps up in March beginning on the SEC Network when it airs Georgia Tech at Auburn on Tuesday, March 8. (5:30 p.m. ET). A four-hour Bases Loaded special – a live compilation of sevengames featuring all 14 SEC teams – will ring in the start of conference play Friday, March 18, on the network. In total, SEC Network will air more than 70 games throughout the season concluding with the entire first, second, third, fourth and semifinal rounds of the SEC Baseball Tournament (May 24-28). The SEC Championship game will air on ESPN2 (May 29).

SEC Network +, the digital home of the SEC Network, will stream more than 350 baseball games featuring all 14 schools and more than 30 appearances by No. 1 Florida.

SEC Network’s full schedule can be found here and SEC Network’s + schedule can be found here and is continuously updated at SECNetwork.com

Please note: Not all ESPN3 games are exclusive The complete ESPN3 schedule is continuously updated here.

Longhorn NetworkLonghorn Network is once again the home of Texas baseball as it will televise more than 30 games this season including a four-game series vs No. 12 California (March 3-6). The Texas-based network will air 11 Longhorn games vs. Big 12 opponents, including a three-game series with No. 10 Oklahoma State (April 29-May 1) and a regular season series finale vs. Baylor (May 19-21). The complete Longhorn Network schedule and additional highlights can be found here.

Television CommentatorsESPN and SEC Network will once again have a highlight accomplished list of commentators:

Kyle Peterson: Played in two different College World Series as a member of Stanford; National Freshmen of the Year and two-time Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year with the Cardinal. He was a first round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chris Burke: Three-time All-American and SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee; Named to the all CWS all-tournament team in 2001. Was a first round pick of the Houston Astros and played parts of five MLB seasons with the Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres

Ben McDonald: All-American and Golden Spikes Award winner at LSU; Helped the Tigers reach the CWS twice and was also a member of the basketball team. First round selection of the Baltimore Orioles and went on to play eight MLB seasons.

Gabe Gross: All-American for the Auburn Tigers, where he also played quarterback. First round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays

Mike Rooney: Versatile position player at Notre Dame; Helped lead the Fighting Irish to the Super Regionals

Wes Clements: All-American and CWS Champion at Arizona; Drafted by the Houston Astros

Nick Belmonte: Played at Florida where he holds the school record for stolen bases; spent time in the minor leagues

Rusty Ensor: Was a captain and power hitter at Tennessee

Jay Walker: Former football player and current Hall of Famer at Howard; has transition into multi-sport analyst